Sights
by WingsofFreedomHanjiZoe
Summary: After an accident on a scouting expedition leaves Hanji completely blind, Levi takes up the duties of acting as her eyes. This story will explore moments of their relationship with each other, including some headcanons, as well as playing off of the theme of vision. LeviHan pairing prominent, so please respect my ship. Hate comments will be deleted.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Blank Stares**

The thud of a human body hitting the wall was loud enough to make the bed-ridden Hanji cringe as her research assistant yelped with a mixture of surprise and pain. The woman turned to where the two men had been, or at least where she thought they'd been, her whole body quivering nervously. A chillingly angry voice cut through the silence that had filled the moments after Moblit had been thrown against the wall.

"What do you mean… How could you have let this happen, Berner? She's your squad leader, dammit," Levi growled at the younger man as he pressed his back up against the wall of the infirmary. Though he wasn't actually being held up off the ground by the other Squad Leader, after all he was about 13 centimeters taller than Levi, Hanji's research assistant still felt as though his life was hanging precariously in the balance.

"I… There was nothing… I did what I could, Captain Levi, sir… I just…" Moblit stuttered flinching as Levi raised his voice again.

"You did what you could? What the hell was that, Berner? Standing there and watching it happen?" Levi was furious and frustrated and Moblit could faintly make out some other emotion lingering just behind his superior officer's eyes. Hanji cleared her throat causing both men to turn and face her, expressions falling as they looked into her eyes.

"Levi, there was nothing Moblit could have done. There's no need to be so hard on him. He and my squad handled the situation perfectly. I was the one who screwed up," Hanji smiled reached out one hand, as though she were searching for her friends. Levi's hands lowered from Moblit's collar and he moved over next to the infirmary bed, taking Hanji's hand in both of his. She reached her free hand up, concentrating on trying to find his face. She thought she'd had it when Levi cried out in pain.

"Dammit… That was my eye you just poked!"

"Ah, sorry! Sorry… I'm still trying to get used to this," Hanji winced sliding her hand down a couple of centimeters to rest it on his cheek. Levi's face fell as he watched her struggle to look in the right place.

"You really are blind, aren't you?" his voice cracked a little and Hanji flinched as she squeezed his hand.

"Well, for now, yes," she said cheerfully, "As of right now, there's no telling whether the blindness is permanent or not. I could be back to normal before you know it! And, hey, at least I made it back okay. This could have ended a lot worse, you know."

Levi knew; he knew all too well. She could have been brought back amongst the bodies of the fallen. In fact, when Levi had seen Nifa leading Hanji's horse back through the gate after the Corps had regrouped, his mind had immediately jumped to the worst conclusion possible: Hanji was dead and had left him in this hell all by himself. Thankfully, Nifa had noticed him staring and had told him Moblit had taken her to the infirmary before Levi completely broke down.

"Hanji, how the hell did this even happen?" Levi asked, gently tracing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. Hanji sighed and ran her free hand through her hair.

"Well, we were setting up the traps to capture a couple of new test subjects when a group of five Titans showed up out of nowhere. We all had to split to take care of one each. So, naturally, I decided to try and lure the biggest guy to the traps we'd already finished setting up. However, I underestimated the length of his arms and he slammed me into a tree. I must have hit my head on a knot or something because I don't remember anything after that. The next thing I remember is waking up here and hearing the doctors telling Moblit that, once I woke up, I was not allowed to go back to sleep. They think I might have a concussion and that there might be more extensive damage to my occipital lobe, causing the blindness. However, they won't be able to actually tell me anything definite until the swelling in my brain goes down and they can take a better look." Levi scowled as Hanji spoke and, by the end, was turning to her assistant to ask about the staying up all night thing only to find that the younger man had bolted.

"Tch, damn brat…" Levi growled. Hanji smiled.

"Give him a break, Levi, he's just as worried about this as you are," the woman was raising her hand to place it back on his face when Levi caught it. He brought her palm to his lips, simultaneously inhaling the faint scent of her hair on her fingers as he kissed her palm. The actions were just as much a reassurance for himself that she was still there with him as they were to comfort her. Hanji laughed, "Trying to keep me from poking your eye again?" Levi smirked in spite of himself and gently brought her hand to his cheek.

"The thought may or may not have crossed my mind," the Captain joked before his face fell again. "Hanji, what are you going to do if this isn't just a temporary thing? What if you can't ever see again? What if…" he cut himself off, not wanting to say his last thought.

"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. There's no point worrying about it right now." Hanji sighed, "By the way, you don't have to stay here. I'm sure you feel disgusting and want to take a bath and sleep today off." Levi shook his head, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't see the movement.

"No," he sighed, "I mean, yes, I do feel downright filthy, but I have more pressing matters on my mind."

"Levi, is that concern I hear in your voice?" Hanji asked smiling and poking his cheek. Levi scowled as he dropped her hands and replacing them with her face, staring straight into her unseeing eyes.

"Yes, Shitty Glasses. It is concern you hear. You are blind, possibly for good, you have a concussion and can't fall asleep and if I leave you alone, you'll most likely talk yourself to sleep. Either that or get yourself into some other kind of trouble because you will conveniently forget that you can't function normally without your vision," the short-tempered man growled. Hanji could feel the heat from his nose and blushed at how close he felt to her.

"I'm pretty sure they won't let me just walk out of here," she laughed quietly.

"Well, I'm not taking any chances with you." Levi released her face and she leaned back into the pillows. He watched her stare off into space for a few moments before whispering, "Erwin's probably going to come by soon. He'll want to know what happened. And how long you'll be out of commission." Hanji nodded.

"Well, I'm obviously out of commission until I get my sight back," she sighed and Levi could tell she had left out if she got her sight back, "I should be cleared to leave the infirmary once they confirm whether or not I have a concussion, though. As for what happened, well, I'll tell him the truth. There's no real reason to hide it, anyways."

As the female scientist was finishing her sentence, the sound of footsteps reached her ears and the scraping of Levi's chair against the tile as he stood up to salute told her what her malfunctioning eyes couldn't: Commander Erwin had finally arrived. She turned her attention to where she thought she remembered the door being and smiled.

"Good evening, Commander," she chirped. She was looking a few feet too far to the right, unnerving the 13th Commander of the Scouting Legion slightly.

"So, Moblit wasn't kidding when he said you were blind then," Erwin murmured as Levi cringed at the pain in his superior's eyes. He placed a hand on Hanji's head and turned her to face the Commander head on.

"You overshot it, Shitty Glasses," he said quietly. Hanji's face faltered for a minute before she reached up, taking Levi's hand and intertwining her fingers with his. The action didn't go unnoticed by Erwin, who raised an eyebrow at the short Captain. Levi just shook his head and gave him a glare that simply said, 'Don't.'

"So, what exactly happened? Moblit said you hit a tree?"

"Ah, yeah, well, sort of," Hanji quickly told Erwin what she's told Levi earlier. Even though he already knew the story, Levi cringed all the way through, his grip on Hanji's hand tightening with every sentence. _She got so lucky, _he thought. _She could have gotten herself eaten. She should be dead. _Yet, he couldn't help thanking the god he wasn't sure he believed in for the fact that Hanji was alive and sitting there next to him.

Eventually, Hanji finished answering Erwin's questions and the Commander stood to leave. Levi rose with him, saluting and watching as Hanji saluted from her bed.

"Hanji, I'll check back in with you in a few days. Levi, you should get some rest. You've had a long day and I'm sure…"

"With all due respect, Erwin, I'll be staying with Hanji. I don't trust her to stay out of trouble like this and it's my job to take care of her." Levi cut the blond off curtly. One of Erwin's eyebrows rose curiously, but he didn't say anything as he left the infirmary. Levi sighed and flopped back into the chair. Hanji turned to face him looking down at his chest.

"So, you ready to stay up all night?" she asked.

"Yeah, what do you want to spend the night doing?" Levi resisted the urge to tilt her face upwards so she'd be looking at his face.

"Let's just talk, okay?"

"Sure. We can do that."

And so, they talked, about random things, avoiding the topic of her vision, until the sun rose. And until the sun rose, Levi couldn't help thinking the thought he'd hidden from her earlier.

_What if this changes everything? _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Premonitions**

The sun had risen an hour and a half ago and there was still no sign of any medical staff. Hanji was rather calm, trying to keep the casual conversation flowing until someone could make their way to her room. She even attempted to capture Levi's attention by talking about how she would now be making less of a mess in her room, but Levi wasn't biting.

"Where the hell is that god dammed doctor?" Levi growled shooting an irritated glare at the still empty doorway as they hit the two hour mark. He felt more exhausted than he ever had in his entire life and could practically feel his nerves fraying one by one, the survivors kicking into overdrive to compensate. And yet, despite the fact that he knew he was likely going to snap at the next person to set him off, at this rate, most likely the next person to walk into the room, he felt no regrets staying up with Hanji. At least this way he knew she was safe.

"Well, he probably has other patients to see, Levi. I wasn't the worst one out there, not by a long shot," Hanji replied. Levi looked at her with his tired eyes and sighed reaching out and pulling her close so that her chin rested on his shoulder.

"You were the worst out there for me," he muttered, gently stroking her hair and taking a deep breath of her scent. Hanji's heart was pounding and Levi could hear it from where his head rested against her chest and the fact that he was the cause brought a small smirk of satisfaction to his lips. Hanji's voice stuttered as Levi continued to hold her.

"You've been rather clingy since last night. Is there something on your mind?" Levi grunted and let her go, leaning back in his chair.

"Of course there's something on my mind, Shitty Glasses. You've gone blind, in case you've forgotten," He pressed his lips together, trapping his other thoughts behind them before he could worry her further.

"I haven't forgotten," Hanji scowled, "But that doesn't explain why you've been clingy. There's something else on your mind; something you're not telling me." Her scowl faltered and fell into a frown. "I thought we were past all of the secrecy and shit. I thought you trusted me, Levi." Levi froze and silently cursed himself, gritting his teeth.

"Of course I trust you, Four Eyes. You're the only one here who treats me like a human being."

"Then why won't you tell me what you're thinking?" Hanji raised her voice slightly and Levi could see tears starting to form in her sightless eyes, a sure sign of her building frustration. He sighed and gently rapped her on her forehead.

"Because you need to be worrying about getting better rather than wasting your valuable brain cells on trying to figure out why I'm an asshole," he gently took her hand in his and ran his thumb against her knuckles. Hanji's face softened and she leaned closer to him.

"You're not an asshole. I'm sorry."

"Shut up."

Hanji laughed and placed her head on Levi's shoulder. She knew he just wanted her to stop apologizing, but she would never find the ways he verbally expressed himself unamusing. She felt his lips brushing against her hair, light as the breath that lifted several stray strands away from her forehead and neck. She wished she could stay like that, even if it was only for a few more seconds, but the clearing of a throat forced the two squad leaders apart.

"I apologize for the delay, Squad Leader Zöe. There are so many other injured." The doctor was young, but he looked as though he were ready to collapse from exhaustion. Hanji turned in the direction of his voice and smiled.

"It's fine. I just have a concussion. I'm not missing any limbs or bleeding out, so I can be patient if there are more pressing…" Levi covered her mouth and turned his irritated scowl towards the doctor.

"It's about damned time. Idiot Glasses here conveniently forgot to mention that she's blind," Hanji squirmed against Levi's hand and the doctor eyed the pair curiously.

"Yes, I'm aware of Squad Leader Zöe's condition. I was the doctor who examined her when Deputy Squad Leader Berner brought her here last night," the doctor replied and moved forward to closer examine Hanji. "Squad Leader, I'm going to have you look straight ahead, you don't have to move your head or eyes or anything. I'll work around you." Hanji did as the man asked and Levi watched as the doctor looked into her eyes concentrating on the way her pupils dilated and contracted as his head cast shadow on them. "Well, the good news is that your eyes are still making the necessary and natural adjustments necessary to function in different light levels. They're responding as though you were still able to see."

"So what does that mean?" Levi raised an eyebrow curiously. The doctor turned to face the shorter man.

"Well, it means that, with the exception of the fact that her brain isn't processing what her eyes are sending to it, possibly due to damage sustained by her occipital lobe…" Hanji cut the doctor off.

"What he's saying is that my eyes are working just fine, it's just that my brain either isn't receiving the images from my eyes or it's not processing them properly."

"And that means what, exactly?" Levi didn't want to admit it, but the fact that the problem stemmed not from damage to her eyes, but damage to her brain was both relieving and even more frightening than not knowing what was wrong with her in the first place. The doctor sighed and stood up writing a couple of notes down in a book before snapping it shut.

"It means that the problem is in her brain. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do. Either Squad Leader Zöe's vision will return when her brain finishes recovering from the shock of her head injury, or her brain might be so permanently damaged that she won't be able to see again. We have no way of performing any kind of examination without risking further damage to her brain. Only time will tell which way she'll go." Levi's fists tightened and he clenched his teeth trying to resist the urge to throttle the doctor and demand to know what he could do to help her heal faster, to help her get her sight back. But, as the doctor had said, there was nothing he could do to help her if the problem was inside of her head. Humanity's Strongest would have to deal with being helpless this time around.

"So, Doc," Hanji interjected, sensing the tension between the other people in the room and feeling the need to lighten it, "what's the verdict on my brain? Am I allowed to sleep now or what? Cause I think Levi and I could both go for about three straight days of sleeping." Levi sucked on his teeth and shrugged as the doctor smiled over at his blind patient.

"You should be fine to sleep now. In fact, I highly recommend that both of you get some rest. It will help Squad Leader Zöe heal faster and I imagine Squad Leader Levi must be exhausted himself. Would you like for me to have one of the nurses escort you back to your quarters?"

"I'll bring her back," Levi replied pushing himself out of the chair and grabbing Hanji's boots from the foot of the bed. "I'll be taking care of her until her sight comes back." He started helping Hanji put her boots on as the doctor nodded.

"Very well. Squad Leader Zöe, I'd like for you to come back in about a week, or sooner if you notice changes in your vision earlier." Hanji nodded and the doctor headed out of the room to his next patient. Levi finished lacing up Hanji's boots and took her hand in his.

"Can you stand?" The brunette looked up at him and rolled her eyes slowly standing and supporting her weight on the cot.

"I'm blind, not crippled, Levi," her face suddenly grew serious. "That being said, don't let me run into anything, okay?" As serious as her request was, Levi couldn't help smiling to himself at the mental image of Hanji bumping into every soldier, doorway, and bump in the floor.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll carry you until we get to the bathroom." Hanji's cheeks flushed with a gentle shade of pink that made Levi's heart race faster than if the other Squad Leader had admitted that she loved him.

"You're being awfully kind today, Levi, offering to take care of me, carrying me. You don't have to do all this you know." Hanji started walking towards where she thought the door was and Levi adjusted her course to avoid the cot and chairs.

"Take it slowly, Shitty Glasses. Keep in mind you can't see shit," Levi warned and gently tugged on Hanji's arm to slow her before looping his through it to give her something more solid to hold on to as well as giving him more control as he guided her towards the baths. "And don't start spewing such ridiculous shit."

"What shit?" Hanji questioned and Levi sighed.

"Of course I have to do all this, Hanji," he whispered, the use of her first name making Hanji tilt her head closer to his out of habit. "I wasn't there when you got hurt, and now you're blind and the only thing I can do for you is act as your eyes and keep you out of trouble. So that's what I'm going to do. And if I hear a single complaint out of you, I swear I will tie you down to the bed until you can see again. So not a word, not a peep, just let me look after you." Though the situation made Levi feel helpless and useless, these little things that he could do for her would have to suffice. He continued leading her along, grateful that she couldn't see the tips of his ears turning red with his declaration.

Hanji remained silent for a minute before leaning down to rest her head against his shoulder and squeezing his arm a little.

"Thank you, Levi." She closed her eyes yawning and trying to concentrate on the feeling of putting one foot in front of the other. Levi squeezed her hand and lightly kissed her hair before pushing the door to the bathroom open and checking to make sure it was empty.

"Whatever, Shitty Glasses. Let's just get you cleaned up so you can get some sleep."

**A/N: Howdy, ya'll. Sorry this took so long to update. I had a ton of shit happen just as I was getting ready to start writing this chapter and it just didn't end up happening. Anyways, I wanted to say thank you for reading this story, especially if you've been waiting around since I posted the first chapter for this. I love you all and there are not enough words in the English language to express how grateful I am for all of you and all the support you guys give. Please feel free to leave a review or just say "Hi!" And hopefully from this point forward I'll be able to provide more regular updates since I'm back at school. Peace! ~Hanji**


End file.
